Everesting: Fiendishly Simple

“Because it is there” 

- George Mallory

Never has it been more important to connect with yourself and those closest to you. 

Let’s be honest, 'out there’ is chaos. It’s almost impossible to escape the wave of noise telling us our lives need fixing. 

But perhaps all we need is to give ourselves permission to disconnect from the world; to disconnect and realise that all is, in fact, well. 

This is where sport, particularly endurance sport, provides a healthy dose of time away from the increasingly chaotic, social, political and economic realities of life. 

Time on task - riding your bike into the sunset, swimming in the vast murky sea, running drills on your local rugby pitch – outdoors, and with an end goal in mind, is our favourite form of escapism.

It’s finding joy in the process of becoming. It’s an uncomplicated freedom. 

At this point in the season, our athletes would typically find themselves on the merry-go-round of tapering, racing and recovering. Not this year. Coronavirus has put pay to our original plans and forced us to revaluate.

It’s presented us with a unique opportunity to extend general training into spring and summer. And it’s also presented us with some lessons to be learned. High volume, low-intensity training weeks, uninterrupted by races and in predominantly dry, temperate conditions has been fruitful, both physically and psychologically, for the entire squad. 

We’re all aware of the principles that underpin endurance training, but they are seldom adhered to over a prolonged period for one reason or another.  

This has certainly been one benefit of these uncertain times: the compounding effect of going long and going easy. That said, it is still essential to have a short-term, outcome-driven goal. One that is just on the cusp of keeping us up at night, but achievable if we apply ourselves to our craft.

Everesting

"Fiendishly simple, yet brutally hard. Everesting is the most difficult climbing challenge in the world.”

It's a simple concept: pick any hill, anywhere in the world, and complete repeats of it in a single activity until you’ve climbed 8,848m, the equivalent height of Mt. Everest. It can be completed on bike, foot or online, and is organised and administered by our friends at Hells 500.

Our weapon of choice? The bike. 

Our Mt. Everest? The north side of the Preseli Hills, Pembrokeshire.

• Segment: RÁS Everesting

• Segment Ascent: 4.32km

• Segment Elevation: 289m

• Segment Average Gradient: 6.7%

• Total Repetitions: 31

• Total Ascent: 133.92km

• Total Descent: 133.92km

• Total Distance: 267.84km

• Total Elevation: 8959m 

And some intend to go further still, planning another 4 repetitions to gain the 10,000m badge. 

Let’s lay our cards on the table here. 31 repetitions, totalling 8,959m of climbing over 267.84km is going to be tough. But being able to push our individual limits against the beautiful, sweeping backdrop of the North Pembrokeshire landscape is also a gift. 

It’s one of those rare occasions where a training group can unite behind a common goal. One that allows us to train and prepare as a team, united by an experience that will expose our deepest frailties while, at the same time, providing an opportunity to build ourselves beyond what we previously thought possible – fitter, faster and stronger.  

Since embarking on Everesting, a razor-like focus has swept through the squad. We’re approaching it as we would any race: control the things that can be controlled, break down the physical, tactical and psychological demands, build backwards, find the quick wins…the list goes on.

You name it, we’ve talked about it, considered it, tried it, changed it, changed it again and then implemented it. And we’re still refining ahead of our date with destiny this September. It’s a prime example of how things are done at RÁS and perfectly embodies the ethos at the heart of our coaching methodology. 

Against the backdrop of a global pandemic, Everesting has become a phenomenon. For a long time, it was a niche challenge, mainly taken on by overzealous amateurs. But now? Things have changed. Professional riders have joined the fore and it’s become a challenge within a challenge – who can summit fastest? 

Whilst impressive, the ultimate achievement, for us, doesn’t lie in the time or record, but in the commitment, self-will, courage and passion that is required to turn the crank for 8,848m of climbing. As was written recently,

                                "the record holder earned the right to wear the same finishers’ jersey as the 11-year-old American who recently completed a virtual Everesting after nearly 15 hours in the saddle. They are part of the same club now. And actually, it is a pretty cool one."

We’re now into our second block of training with the focus specifically on strength, both on and off the bike.

From overloading ligaments and tendons through a range of movements and weighted exercises, to over-gearing efforts, hill repeats and double day endurance workouts on the bike, training continues to progressively build.

In the first block, we targeted adaptation to raise our ceiling of capacity and, as tough as it was, it felt good to challenge those upper energy systems. 

The third block will consolidate our work so far and transition into out-and-out endurance. 

Within the stringency of bike-specific training, there is relief. Open water swimming has returned now that travel restrictions have been lifted and there are pockets of training taking place to develop athletes’ run specific, mechanical function, complementing longer-term goals and ambitions. 

We’ll end this Insight by revisiting what we explored at the start: the uncomplicated freedom to be found in the process of becoming.  

Everesting creates the space and time we need to bring us closer to ourselves. Voluntary suffering and self-discovery through the ultimate repetitious challenge is the perfect remedy for not just us, but you as well. 

We’ll keep you updated on how training and preparation progress as we search for the coveted grey stripe.